G'day Guys!!

Sunday morning, we packed our bags, jumped into the car and headed south - 450km to Albany. We arrived early evening, checked into our hotel, and headed for a quick tour of the town.

Monday morning, a little cloudy, we set off to see some of the sights this region has to offer. First stop - Natural Bridge; this is a natural rock formation that has formed over thousands of years. Next, the Gap, just as it sounds the gap is a huge 'gap' in the rocks, into which the southern ocean rushes.

We jumped back into the car and headed on, to Cable Beach. In the middle of this beach lies a granite boulder, tossed on shore by a wave, testament to the Southern Ocean's immense power, as it weighs about 100 tonnes, as much as a diesel powered locomotive.

Next stop was at the blow holes, these are deep holes that run through the rock all the way down to the ocean. On very rare occasions, when the conditions are just right, the sea crashes into the rocks below and the spray shoots up and out of the blow holes. As the conditions were calm, and there was very little motion in the ocean, it seemed very unlikely that the bow holes would actually blow. Lee decided to venture a little further down the rocks and actually sit at the top of one of the holes, a good 5-10 minutes later, the rocks rumbled, there was an almighty roar, and a tiny bit of spray emerged. Lee almost jumped out of his skin!!

From there we headed to Stony Hill, at Peak Head, where there's a great walking trail and you get 360degree views of the area, fantastic. Next stop was Salmon Holes, named after salmon looking for calm waters close to the beach. The beach here is another amazing beach, which we spent time walking along and paddling our feet.

From here we drove to Whale World. Albany's whaling station first opened in 1952 and after 26 years, shut down in 1978. Since then it has been transformed to accommodate visitors, in the form of Whale World. We took a guided tour of the station on which we learnt about the history of the station, before we saw a 3D movie about the giants of the ocean, and then a film about sharks. We climbed aboard the Cheynes IV Whalechaser, which was one of the ships that worked from the station.

From Whale World we drove to Middleton Beach. We took a walk along the long, windy beach, before driving to our last stop of the day - Emu Point. We walked along Emu Beach, where we saw a massive jellyfish in the shallows. From Emu Point the opposite headland of Gull Rock is less than 10 metres away.

After a very busy day we headed back to the hotel for dinner and a few beers.

Love Lee and Emma

xx xx xx xx xx xx xx